Homecoming
by Quatorz
Summary: Agent Bering is summoned to a meeting with Warehouse 13's mysterious Caretaker.


**Title**: Homecoming

**Author**: Quatorz

**Rating**: T

**Summary**: Agent Bering is summoned to meet with Warehouse 13's mysterious Caretaker.

* * *

Agent Bering punched in her personal code, granting her admission to the office and control center of Warehouse 13. The heavy metal door from the Umbilicus reminded her of a battleship in the abstract, and now very specifically the U.S.S. Perry since their mission on the ship last month.

She'd felt like a fish out of water on that one-no pun intended-but having a partner with a military background had been a boon on that case: helping them cut through the Navy's _endless_ supply of bureaucratic red tape to snag and bag the artifact.

And what a weird artifact it was: an Egyptian ankh that caused people's hearts to literally disappear. The ankh supposedly brought upon the judgment of Osiris. According to ancient Egyptian custom, when you died you were brought before Osiris and your heart was weighed against the Feather of Truth. If it weighed less than the feather, you were passed on to the afterlife and paradise. But if it weighed more-burdened by sin-your heart was fed to Ammit the Devourer and your soul was banished to oblivion.

Five sailors died before they grabbed the artifact. Needless to say: _that_ one went in the Dark Vault.

She exhaled a breath she didn't realize was holding, which sounded inordinately loud in the empty room. She sat down at the table, and waited. She was glad the office was empty. The note had said to come alone...

She'd recognized the Caretaker's handwriting on the simple white card: 'Agent Bering, please meet me in the Warehouse office. I'd like to speak with you alone. Thank you.'

What the hell did the Caretaker want to see _her_ for? The last time they spoke one on one was when she'd been recruited, last year. They hadn't spoken since, and that was perfectly fine with her: the woman gave her the creeps.

She hated this. She felt like she'd been called to the Principal's office. And she hated _that_ too-on the few occasions that it had happened. She didn't like getting in trouble.

Then why did she always feel like she deserved to?

Being new to the Warehouse didn't help, but she'd always felt this way: like she was a fraud, like she didn't deserve to be here.

Somehow she had fooled everyone into thinking she was this perfectly capable and functioning adult and it was a constant struggle to keep up the facade.

It weighed on her heart knowing that other people-people like her partner especially-depended on her-that their lives could literally be in her hands. Some times it made her sick to her stomach.

She remembered looking at the Ankh, and knowing that if she touched it her heart would have disappeared too. She just knew it.

Her fingers tapped the table of their own volition. Her mind was rambling-which it did when she was nervous. Where was she anyway? The note said to meet her here. Where was-

"Agent Bering."

"Ahh!" she spun around, clutching her heart and immediately feeling like an idiot. She was a secret service agent, wasn't she? She shouldn't almost pass out from someone sneaking up on her.

But how in the hell the hell did that woman do that? The door from the Umbilicus never opened. She would have heard it-she wasn't _that_ lost in thought.

But suspecting that any questions would be treated rhetorically, she simply straightened up. "You wanted to see me?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to alarm you," the Human Enigma offered. Her partner had come up with that one. Boy, did it fit. "I was in the Warehouse. I came in through-" She gestured toward the-much quieter-Warehouse entrance.

That was plausible (she supposed) but there was still something fishy about this lady. This wasn't the first time she'd just magically appeared or disappeared. But she let it go for now.

"Its all right," she assured the older woman. "You wanted to see me?" she repeated, and the tension in her voice betrayed her anxiety.

"Yes Agent Bering," she smiled, and gestured back to the table. "Please have a seat."

She complied, keeping an eye on the other woman lest she teleport behind her or something. This whole place was strange. The Warehouse was more like a living entity than a building-and this lady was in charge of it. But it was more than that. She had some weird connection to it. Like, she _felt_ it.

It was hard to explain. And it was never articulated, but like last month her partner broke a lamp and joked that the Enigma Lady here would feel a pain in her hip-or the next time we saw her she'd be limping. It was funny-like in a 'funny cause its true' kinda way-but it showed that he'd picked up on it too: her almost organic connection to the Warehouse.

Yeah this whole place was strange. 'Endless Wonder' was great and all, but she wouldn't mind getting a few answers every once in a while.

The living enigma in question sat opposite her, and fixed her with a smile. Strangely, the expression fit-and felt vaguely familiar.

Which was all well and good, but she wasn't saying anything. Did the Caretaker bring her down here just to stare at her? Is this how they got confessions out of people? Because if it wasn't they were wasting an opportunity here: cause it would be _really_ effective.

Finally the tension got to her. "Um, why did you want to see me?"

The smile grew wider-dazzling really-and she felt that gnawing sense of familiarity again. "I wanted to show you something."

Okaaaayyy. And yet she made no motion to produce anything. A magic trick, perhaps?

She kept her sarcasm in check and her mouth shut-and then reflected that this whole place was a magic trick.

The Lady of Mystery must have figured she'd suffered enough. "We're waiting for the 'B' Team," she volunteered. "They've found something and I wanted to show it to you. Something I've been looking for for a long time."

What could the Caretaker want to show _her_?

"Ah!" the older lady smiled, and turned expectantly to the Umbilicus.

A moment later the door opened (of course it did-because she somehow knew there were coming) and the two newest agents entered the office.

They shot her a glance before settling their eyes on the older woman. "Bring it here," the Caretaker said, gesturing between the two of them. "I want Agent Bering to see this."

Jack, the more experienced agent, placed a bundle of black cloth on the table, his breath coming in short pants. He looked like he'd run the length of the Umbilicus. "It was right where you thought it might be."

She watched the Caretaker open the bundle: inside was a five pointed gold star with a shield emblazoned upon it. "Finally," the older woman said.

"Is that-?" Dakota asked. She was the younger of the two newest agents.

The Caretaker nodded. "Its Myka Bering's badge."

The younger Agent Bering groped for enough air to speak. "That-that was my mother's badge?"

The Caretaker nodded.

"Miss Donovan, is it an artifact?" Jack asked the Caretaker.

"No," she smiled. "It just belongs here," she said, wiping at the corner of her eye.

"Unless you want it?" This she offered the younger Agent Bering, still absorbed in the details of it. Her mother had worn it for years as both a Secret Service and a Warehouse agent. It was one of the things they'd never recovered.

"No," her voice was uneven. "It should stay here. Mom would have liked that-and Momma won't mind. She has plenty of things to remember her by."

The door from the Umbilicus flew open. "Claude!" her partner Mike yelled to her-and then stopped when he saw the scene in the room.

Two heads had turned instinctively when he called her, and when she looked to Miss Donovan there was a knowing smile on the older woman's face.

"Am I interrupting something?" Mike asked cautiously. He tiptoed toward them like a cat in a rocking chair testing facility.

"No," Miss Donovan smiled. "I'm simply having a talk with my namesake." The Caretaker turned to her, and spoke quietly. "You're meant to be here, Agent Bering. Don't ever doubt that."

Claudia Bering just smiled. "Thanks, Miss Donovan." She chided herself for her earlier-for her constant-self doubt. But it wasn't easy: living up to the name of her amazing mothers. But maybe she didn't have to. Maybe that was point: be her own person. Be her own Agent Bering.

Mike shot her a look that roughly translated as 'why are you talking to the Dragon Lady?' She smiled, and made a mental note to clear up the misconception later. "I just came to see if you wanted to go into town and grab some pizza?" he asked through a forced smile.

"Sounds great," she nodded. Jack and Dakota took up the invitation as well.

Claudia turned back to the mysterious Caretaker-a person whom she learned more about today than she ever thought she would in her entire life. "Would you like to come, Miss Donovan?" Inside she laughed because-although she couldn't see it-she knew the look on Mike's face right now: something akin to an anthropomorphic cartoon animal with its eyes bugging out.

"Thank you," the Caretaker declined. "Maybe next time."

Claudia Bering nodded and followed the others to the Umbilicus. "Steve's back at the B&B," Jack piped up. "We should see if he wants to go along."

There was a group consensus as the door closed, leaving Claudia the Elder alone in the Warehouse again.

She picked up the badge on the table. If she polished it enough, she could swear Myka's reflection was smiling back at her.

How many years had it been since they lost her? Too many. Little Claudia had been so young then. Eight or nine at the most. And Helena had simply withdrawn and took their daughter with her. And Pete...

Pete was never the same after losing Myka. What was it: two year later that he sacrificed himself to save all of them? Claudia could swear it was relief she saw in his eyes in those final moments. Not that she could see all that well in those moments: her memory was blurry.

Her beloved Artie passed away in a hospital room, holding her hand. He died of old age: talk about beating the odds for this place.

Only her and Jinxie remained of the old guard. He was the 'new Artie' to this generation of agents.

She missed them all so much. If the Regents only knew how heretical her thoughts were-how often she thought of using the inventory of the building in her care to try and bring them back-bring every single one of them back.

Some days she could barely breathe for the weight of it.

Sometimes she would imagine that she had coerced Helena into fixing the time machine, and the two of them could go back and just spend one more day with their friends-

Their family. To have 22 hours and nineteen more minutes with them. She wouldn't sleep a wink of it away.

But it was just a fantasy.

She placed Myka's badge in the case, and followed her namesake out the Umbilicus.

But in her mind's eye, she was following Pete and Myka to the B&B for the annual Raymond St. James marathon.

If she tried hard enough, she could almost smell the popcorn...


End file.
